The following describes objects in our night sky for December and is especially written for beginning observers. Moon Phases The Deep Sky Objects described later should be visible with the Moon present, although they will be better seen at times when the Moon is not visible. Still, don’t be put off by the Moon if the sky is clear. See what you can and try again on a moonless night. December starts with the 10-day old Waxing Moon, becoming more gibbous each day until… Dec 5: F

Andrew's setup at the Frogmore Astro Camp. Photo by Andrew Wood. By Andrew Wood For visual observing especially, light pollution greatly diminishes the experience of observing deep sky objects – star clusters, nebulae and galaxies. Even with the sophisticated imaging equipment available today that enables those who like to take images of these objects in less-than-ideal skies, a dark sky will make the images even better. Finding a dark place, unless you live on a rural prop

Listening to Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell speak gave us direct personal insight into how she made her discovery of pulsars and she generously expanded on this in her response to questions from the audience.  

The following describes objects in our night sky for October and is especially written for beginning observers. Moon Phases The Deep Sky...

A historic photo of the Anglo Australian Telescope.  The dome is 50 metres high and 36 metres in diameter ( Credit : David Malin, Australian Astronomical Observatory) By Dirk Goës On the 8th of July 2025 at the Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) Associate Professor Christian Wolf, the new director of Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) outlined the future for the venerable Anglo Australian Telescope (AAT).  The AAT along with its exquis

The following describes objects in our night sky for September and is especially written for beginning observers. Astronomy from the city...

On the weekend of the 16-17 th  August the Sydney City Skywatchers (SCS) ran their annual telescope viewing sessions for the public at...

The cover of the new Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan.  Cover artwork: Seven Sisters, Noeleen Hamlett, Wajarri Yamaji ( Credit : science.org.au ).  By Dirk Goës On the 9 th  of July 2025 at the annual scientific meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) the Australian Academy of Science launched the Astronomy Decadal Plan 2026-2035.  It was developed by Australia’s professional astronomers over the last two years through a series of workshops, roadshows and surv

The evolution of interacting binary stars

Stars that pull each other apart, merge, and explode A still from an animation simulating a thermonuclear explosion occurring on the surface of a white dwarf star (right) while still pulling in gas from its companion red giant star (left) in binary star system T Corona Borealis ( Credit : NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab).     By Dirk Goës A binary star system is one where two stars are gravitationally bound together and orbit each other in either circu